1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for specifying a zone such as a movement zone or a prohibition zone of a moving part to be controlled.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a numerical control unit, etc., designed for controlling the table, tool rest, etc. of the machine tools such as the lathe, machining center, etc. for machining, specifies the aftermove position and the limit of the movement of the moving part to be controlled by numerical data, thereby specifying the machining range, as well as preventing the interference with other parts of the machining and the overrun of the moving part.
Conventionally, in specifying the aftermove position or movement limit of the moving part to be controlled, in addition to the coordinate data of machine coordinates, machine origin, program coordinates, machining origin, etc., the positional information about the aftermove position or movement limit of the moving part to be controlled has been defined accurately as numerical data, and by using these numerical data, a program for giving work instructions such as machining program has been prepared.
However, with the conventional method for specifying a zone of the movement of the moving part to be controlled, there is a problem such that a large amount of calculation work must be done in order to accurately define the position information about the aftermove position or movement limit of the moving part to be controlled.
The increase in the amount of work for specifying a zone of the movement of the moving part to be controlled causes the increase in the amount of work for preparing work program of, for example, zone machining to be formed using the data of the movement zone, and this entails a secondary problem, that is, the fall of the efficiency of work such as zone machining.